Monthly Archives: April 2008

Though my friend was not at all happy when I took three small branches of lilac from the garden of her neighbours, the wonderful smell which is filling the kitchen now confirms me that I was right. The branches were hanging over the fence anyway…

It is only fair to say that Brussels offers a large choice of cultural and social activities. During these days, the royal greenhouses are open to the public, the festival of short movies (festival du court métrage) is taking place as well as several activies around the 50th anniversairy of the 58 world exhibition.

And what did I do? Following the advice of a friend, I had a walk to the Abbaye de la Cambre, a former abbey surrounded by a small but nice park not to far from my place, staying there an hour on a bench before walking along the lakes in Ixelles admiring the very tiny ducklings (maybe 2 days old, not more) as I do every year, and finally having lunch at a sunny terrasse and a long siesta in my place. It was great.

However, I’m always impressed by people who tell me all the things they do during a weekend or even the week – concerts, museums, visits, etc. etc. and of course I do sometimes the same. Only that once in a while it feels good not to run after all the opportunities life is offering but just to benefit from the day without asking too much what the next will bring. Maybe it’s a missed opportunity, maybe it’s the pleasure of enjoying life. Qui sait?

A few weeks ago, the acronym CMS did not mean anything to me. Now, I don’t only know that it means Content Management System but the question: “Can I display the category of a component as table in a content item?” also makes perfectly sense to me.

Yesterday night I did something I usually avoid doing. I looked up the end of the book I’m currently reading. Result: I don’t want to read it anymore. It’s a pity, it’s the last volume out of four (Hyperion I&II, Endymion I&II from Dan Simmons) but contrary to Hyperion the last Endymion book is looooooong. After the 200 pages I already read, I just don’t see anything exciting coming. Hyperion was a quest, a great book, a complex story unfolding it’s multiple aspects one by one, and great characters.

In the Endymion the main character and narrative is quite boring. He stumbles from one problem to the other, from one critical situation to the next without a real story. At least this is my impression so far. I don’t feel the same thrill or excitement the first two books brought me. Maybe it would be a normal good adventure book if it were independent but following the first two it just can’t keep the level.

I’m still not sure if I will finish reading the book or not. Right now, I’m not in the mood so I’ll leave it aside. I think that my curiosity and this weird habit of buying and reading sequels even if I don’t like them anymore will lead me to do so at one moment in the future. But the page-turner feeling you have when you can’t stop reading a book, that’s gone. What a pity.

My mum used to say “There is not such a thing as bad weather – just bad clothing”. Personally, I think it’s more a question of mental attitude. If just keep on telling yourself that it is not that hot or not that cold, you will feel the cold or the heat less. This attitude, like a kind of autosuggestion, is indispensable to live in Brussels but it also reaches its limits. Yes, indeed, you can keep on telling yourself that the weather is not that bad, that everything except pouring rain is good weather but somehow you feel that you are slightly cheating yourself.